Four international investors have so far submitted offers in Montenegro's tender for building a second unit at its sole thermal power plant TE Pljevlja - and two more bids could be filed before the deadline expires on Oct 31, broadcaster RTCG reported.

According to unofficial information, a Polish consortium led by holding group POL-MOT, a Slovak consortium (Istroenergo Group Slovakia-SES Tlmace) and two Chinese firms CMEC and China Gezhouba Group International Engineering have filed the four bids, while Czech company Skoda Praha and a Chinese consortium are expected to formally confirm their participation this week.

Earlier media reports indicated that Chinese firms CNEEC, TBEA Shenyang Transformer and Powerchina Hubei Electric Power Survey & Design Institute, as well as Russia's Rosatom, Czech firm CKD and a company from Turkey are also interested in the project.

Last month Montenegrin energy producer EPCG, which owns TE Pljevlja and is seeking a partner for the second unit, extended the bidding deadline to October 31 from September 30, saying interested companies requested more time to better prepare and study the extensive project documentation.

Under the project, TE Pljevlja's new unit is envisaged to have a capacity of between 220MW and 300MW. The existing one is of 210 MW. TE Pljevlja generates around a half of the electricity produced in Montenegro and the country now imports around 30% of the power it consumes. Therefore, the construction of the new facility aims to significantly improve its energy balance.